A while back, I wrote about some reasons why the AR-15 is an ideal home defense firearm. Of course, that wasn’t a comprehensive list by any stretch. I doubt there could be such a thing. After all, there are as many reasons as there are people who have AR-15s.
That’s a lot.
However, the National Review‘s David French offered up his reasons for trusting an AR-15 for his home defense needs.
Few things are more frustrating than watching members of the media, politicians, and activists who often know very little about guns, have the resources to hire security when they face threats, and don’t understand the weapons criminals use telling me what I “need” to protect my family. And what they invariably tell me I “need” is a weapon less powerful than the foreseeable criminal threat.
Or, let me put it another way. My family has been threatened by white nationalists. Why should they outgun me?
Few things concentrate the mind more than the terrifying knowledge that a person might want to harm or kill someone you love. It transforms the way you interact with the world. It makes you aware of your acute vulnerability and the practical limitations of police protection.
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Now, I’ll admit that an AR-15 isn’t my first line of home defense. I’m far more likely to face a break-in in the middle of the night. My Glock 19 is just fine for that, as is my Mossberg 500. Either will take care of that threat just fine.
However, I also keep an AR-15 nearby in case this is something a bit more…personal.
As French alludes to, if a group of people wants you dead, there’s really no such thing as “too much firepower.” I’ve gotten death threats myself, though nothing as organized as it seems French got. It’s concerning, to say the least.
What’s more, we live in a world where people are mobbing other people’s homes. You’re going to tell me a pump-action shotgun is ideal when an angry mob is screaming for blood outside your home? Five shells won’t do crap if the hundreds outside your home decide to come inside your home without your consent.
The truth is that those saying you don’t need an AR-15 for home defense are rarely people who have actually studied home defense. We have several examples of AR-15s being used to defend someone’s home. There’s Florida, Hawaii, and another case in Florida and that’s just a few of them. Let’s also not forget Southerland Springs when a homeowner with his AR-15 took on the mass murderer as he stepped out of the church.
The fact of the matter is that people who don’t know what they’re talking about would do well to sit down, shut up, and listen to people who have actually studied the topic at hand.
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